The Engagment
by Killer Ladybug
Summary: DxA Ariadne is acting odd, causing Yusuf to call on Cobb for help. But what is bothering her and how will it afect the team? i suck at summaries.


(I own nothing!)

(This takes place after the Fischer job.)

Ariadne stared. She couldn't do anything else. Not after what happened two nights ago. What should she do? She only had five days left to decide. She rested her head in her hands. She had to go to work, but she couldn't bring herself to move. What in the hell am I going to do? She thought as her eyes landed on the little velvet box resting on her kitchen table. What indeed?

She walked to work that day. She kept her head down not looking at anyone if she could avoid it. She could feel the small box burning a hole in her pocket. She should have known this was going to happen. I mean, they had been going out for two years now. But she never thought…

She pushed the thought away as she simultaneously pushed open the door to the warehouse. She stalked passed Yusuf, not hearing his hello; she flew to her station and flopped down. Pulling the box from her pocket and setting it in the middle of her work table, she sat down and she stared at it.

"Ariadne? Are you okay?" Yusuf walked over to where the young girl was sitting. They had become friends in the two weeks that Cobb, Arthur and Eames left to gather information on the target.

Yusuf jumped as Ariadne abruptly stood up and began to pace the length of her work space. He watched her do this for several moments.

"Ariadne is something wrong?" But again she didn't respond. "Ariadne?" She stopped and turned. But instead of answering him, she sat down on her stool and went back to staring at a little black box. Yusuf back up slowly to his work station and looked up 28 days from the last time Ariadne acted odd. Nope, that was two weeks from now. Then what the hell was wrong?

Yusuf was worried that first day wondering if his friend was having a bad reaction to one of the drugs in the compound. But further testing showed that whatever this was had nothing to do with the compound.

He was panicked the second day. She had taken to muttering to herself.

By the third day when she literally started hitting her head against a wall, he took action. The phone rang several times before a click on the far end told him the hard part was done.

"Hello, Cobb? It's Yusuf. Something's wrong with Ariadne." The phone clicked as the dial tone came on. And half way around the world, Cobb was ordering tickets for the next flight to Paris.

It was the morning of the fourth day that the rest of the team arrived, a very worried Cobb leading them. Yusuf stood to greet them.

"What's wrong?" Yusuf had refused to tell him over the phone what was wrong, but Cobb had a bad feeling about whatever it was.

"I don't know! She's been acting weird! I checked everything it could be! I even called Miles! He said that he would be here as soon as he could, but that won't be until tomorrow!" Yusuf said scurrying along towards Ariadne's worktable.

"What sort of weird?"

"See for yourself." Yusuf pushed open the door to Ariadne's work station.

There, pacing the floor, looking for all the world like a woman possessed, was Ariadne. She was muttering to herself and taking turns either biting her lip or her thumb till they started bleeding.

"Hello, love." Eames announced to get her attention. There was no response. She just continued to pace, bite and mutter.

Lip bite, pace, thumb bite, pace, mutter, pace…

"Ariadne?" Arthur asked becoming increasingly worried by the second.

Thumb bite, pace, mutter, lip bite, pace…

"Ari?" Cob asked taking a step forward. She stopped, but instead of turning to face them she turned back to her table and plopped down on a stool staring at a very worn-looking box sitting. She was again muttering something they couldn't hear.

"She's been doing that for the past four days…" Yusuf said casting a worried glance at Ariadne's back. Cobb walked till he was behind her. She thunked her head down on the desk three times before going back to staring at the little black box.

"Ariadne?" He gently laid a hand on her shoulder. She screamed bloody, vicious, violent, possibly-involving-a-chainsaw murder and fell off of her stool. She landed with a hard thump on the concrete floor.

"That's going to leave a mark." Cobb glared at Eames letting him know that his comment was not appreciated.

"Are you okay?" Cobb asked the still stunned-looking Architect.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be back till next Saturday!" Ariadne squeaked from her spot on the floor.

"Yusuf called and said that you were acting odd and so we came back early. Ariadne, is everything okay?" Cobb asked, his brow furrowing with worry.

"Cobb, everything is fine. Yusuf was worried for nothing." Her voice was still abnormally high and squeaky, and she glanced at the box every few seconds.

"What's this?" Arthur reached for the box on the desk. Ariadne lunged and snatched up the box from the table and stuffed it down the front of her shirt. She was among thieves and didn't trust her pockets, too easy for skilled hands to slide in and out of.

"Nothing!" She said in a loud, slightly panicky voice.

"Darling, you realize that won't stop me, right?" She cast a glance at Eames and prayed that she wasn't blushing. She tried a glare and Eames put up his hands defensively.

"It was a joke, love." But the tone in his voice told her it was far from it.

"Now, if you don't mind, I have work to do. So shoo!" she motioned them off before turning her attention to the diagrams on the table, but her hand grasped the box through her blouse and her fingers danced the familiar patterns.

"She won't stop fiddling with that little box! She's either staring at it, playing with it, or holding it in her hand. She has barely gotten any work done in the last three day!" Yusuf said, his eyes never leaving Ariadne's figure as she puttered around her station.

"So we need to find out what's in the box," Eames said munching on a peanut.

"But how?" The three thieves stopped to think while Yusuf watched.

"You are one of the best teams of thieves in the world and you can't even figure out how to steal a box from a twenty-four-year-old girl?" Yusuf asked arching an eyebrow.

"We usually have to steal from someone that doesn't know us or most of our plans," Arthur said reclining in one of the armchairs.

"We could try an extraction," Yusuf said.

"No, she would figure it out too fast and the last thing we need is to lose our Architect over a stupid box," Cobb said casting a glance at his friend. What was going on?

Ariadne stopped her hands and, making sure that none of the boys were near her, she pulled the box from her blouse. Opening the lid she stared at the contents. Such a little thing, but it would change everything. She snapped the box shut and slid it back into her blouse.

She needed to focus on the task at hand. Cobb needed the levels soon and if she didn't finish soon she might never get to. And that brought her right back to the little box pressing against her heart.

The men tried all day to get the box from her. But at no point did she put it down. Any time it wasn't in her shirt was when it was in her hands or being stared at. Eames offered to excavate it from her shirt but that idea was shot down by a loud no from everyone in the group. Yusuf tried to spill coffee on her shirt. But instead of getting her, he missed and barely got any on her sleeve, unlike Arthur who got it full on in the chest. Both had been far from pleased, while Eames had laughed so hard he nearly wet himself.

Arthur's try wasn't any better. He turned up the heater to make Ariadne overly hot and then when she was finally forced to go change into something cooler, they would be able to steal the box. What they forgot was that Ariadne wears more layers than an Eskimo. So at no point was she uncomfortable while they all sweat like pigs.

Eames tried to startle her to make her jump and hopefully knock the box lose. That didn't end well. The result was not with Eames getting the box; instead he got a sore shoulder where Ariadne had swung blindly and hit him. Arthur had found this hilarious.

Cobb had stood back, shaking his head at their antics and finally it was his turn. He walked up and asked her what was in the box. She informed him in no uncertain terms that it was 'none of his damn business.'

The team watched as like clockwork Ariadne did her pacing, muttering and staring. They were beyond worried. Then she suddenly stopped and picked up her buzzing phone.

She flipped open the phone to see who was calling. Miles. She should have known. She raised the phone to her ear and gave her usual cheery greeting.

"What the hell do you want now, Miles?"

"I wanted to call and see if you had made up your mind yet." The old man's voice crackled over the phone.

"No I haven't."

"Well, you had better have soon. He's waiting for your answer. When are you giving it?"

"Tomorrow night. We're going out to dinner. Miles, I don't know what to do. I mean, this is the most important decision of my life! What if I answer wrong?" She whimpered into the phone. Miles had been like a father to her and he always had the answers.

"I can't tell you what to do, Ariadne, this is your decision. I'll come by to see you before you go, okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Goodbye."

"Ariadne, wait. If you have any doubts, any at all…" He sighed. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Thank you," she said, a tear forming in her eye.

"Goodbye, little Ariadne."

"Goodbye, Pops." He smiled at the nickname she had bestowed upon him. Miles sighed and sat back in his desk chair looking out the window at the clear Paris sky. The rest was up to her now.

She stared at her closed phone.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow was the day.

On the other side of the room the men were attempting to eavesdrop in on the conversation.

"So now we wait and see," Cobb said gazing at the girl with the scarf.

Eames looked at Arthur, looked back at Cobb and turned back to look at Arthur. They rolled their eyes. How in the world two people could be so blind? They didn't know.

Ariadne was the first to leave. She had finished all of the levels and was now exhausted. She waved as she left. But she wasn't waving at them; she was only really waving to one of them, the one with blue eyes that could stop her heart.

She laid awake in bed that night thinking about them. They were two very different men. One had deep blue eyes, the other had olive green. One was tan and tall, with an air of confidence, and a loyalty unmatched, the other while having the same air, was white and thin.

She rolled over on her side as her mind mulled them over.

Miles had told her don't do this unless you're sure. His words rang in her head.

But she did have doubts.

No, she had one doubt.

She knew who she wanted. She wanted the blue eyes. She wanted the one that could never be hers.

She knew her answer.

That morning Ariadne walked into the warehouse, a large black bag over her shoulder and a smile on her face.

"Good morning!" She said a bright cheery smile on her face. They froze looking quite a bit like deer in head lights. Their eyes followed her as she floated across the room to her work station.

"Good morning, Ariadne." Cobb said approaching her like one would a crazy person, hesitation in every step.

"Cobb, I have a few questions about the second level." And that was how the day progressed until lunch. When, as usual, Eames curiosity got the better of him.

"What's in the bag?" Eames asked looking up from his Chinese take-out box.

"What's in what bag?" Ariadne said not looking up from where she was pushing her food around in the little paper container.

"That bag you came in with."

"My purse?" she asked stealing a piece of beef from Cobb and popping it in her mouth. She smiled at the annoyed look Cobb gave her.

"No, the other one," Eames said trying to steal a bite from Arthur and nearly getting stabbed by a chopstick for his troubles. Ariadne stopped to think. Do I tell them the truth or lie?

She sighed. Telling them couldn't hurt.

"I have a date tonight and since I don't have time to run home to change, I brought my clothes with me," she said as Cobb stole one of her shrimp in retaliation. They stared at her, and she took the chance to steal back her pilfered shrimp. But he froze at her announcement.

"So is this a first date? Second?" She glared at Eames.

"While it is none of your business, Eames, I'll tell you. Since lord knows you'd just annoy me about it all day if I don't." She sighed and placed her food container out of reach of any thieving chopsticks.

"It's our two year anniversary. And since I can't go to the Red Rose dressed like this," she gestured to her clothes. "I needed a change of clothes."

"The Red Rose?" Eames let out a low whistle. "That place has a year wait list for a table and that's only if you have the right connections. And then it's those really small food portions that cost an arm and a leg, and that's not including the tip or tax. He must really have a thing for you, love."

"Actually, he owns the restaurant." Eames stared at her as she pushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"Well then that's just tacky." He announced finally stealing a bite of Arthur's food. He popped the chicken into his mouth and made a point of making obnoxious smacking sounds as he chewed.

Then he froze and began to gag as tears ran down his face.

"Y-you b-bastard!" Eames choked out trying to glare at Arthur through the tears.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that I eat my snow peas and chicken with _lots_ of red pepper flakes?" Arthur said an evil smirk hidden under a falsely sweet smile. Cobb and Ariadne roll their eyes at the two's antics. The three stooges brought to life minus one.

"It's not tacky at all." They turned to look at Yusuf. "As a matter of fact, males of almost every species have to prove their ability to provide for their mate and any offspring they may produce through-"

"Yusuf! We get it! No need to go into detail!" Ariadne said trying not to blush.

"I'm just saying that he would be a logical mate for you." Ariadne's face turned an interesting shade of scarlet but her eyes turned thoughtful.

"Yes, I guess he would," she murmured before turning back to her food.

"He asked you, didn't he?" Yusuf said staring at Ariadne. "That's why you've been acting weird."

"He asked me what?" She said playing dumb and stabbing at one of her shrimp imagining it was Yusuf. The rest of the group fell silent, even Eames who was just starting to turn back to a normal color.

"To marry him." The silence at the circle after the announcement was deafening. She sighed and placed her food container on the floor, her appetite leaving her feeling sick at the thought of food.

"Yes, he asked me to marry him." They were all looking at her now their eyes boring into her, but there was only one pair of eyes she was terrified to meet.

"What did you answer?" Yusuf asked his eyes worried.

"I didn't," she said her eyes glues to the floor. "I asked him to give me a week to think. I'm giving him my answer tonight."

"What are you going to tell him?"

"I'll let you know after I give him my answer," she said, a note of finality in her voice that told them this discussion was over. She stood and returned to her work station.

"Well now we know what's been bugging her." Eames said. They turned and glared at him before they too returned to their stations.

Cobb watched her from his spot hunched over the plans, as she took notes and placed finishing touches on the models.

Arthur and Eames watched their friends. Their minds whirring with thought, ideas and possibilities.

But it was Yusuf who was worried. His eyes calculating and filled to the brim with knowledge he'd rather not have. He sighed and turned on his laptop. It couldn't be helped.

They worked like that for hours, each one watching and wondering.

Finally five o'clock rolled around. Ariadne stood from her stool and turned, not noticing the pairs of eyes hastily moving back to their work. She grabbed her bag and walked to the bathroom locking the door.

Placing her bag on the counter she stripped. Opening the bag she pulled out her dress and slid into it. It was a simple black cocktail dress with spaghetti straps, the skirt came to mid-thigh with small slits in the sides and a sweet heart neckline. She zipped up the back before grabbing her make-up bag. Eye liner pencil danced around her eyes making them stand out.

This is it, no more stalling.

She pulled the mascara through her eyelashes.

No more excuses.

She painted over her pink lips with a dark red.

No more time.

Finally she ran a brush through her hair and pulled it into a ponytail and let a tendril hang on one side of her face.

No more waiting.

She slid on her high heeled sandals and after looking at the strange person staring back at her in the mirror, she turned to open the door.

No more blue.

She twisted the handle and stepped out.

No more Cobb.

Yusuf looked up from his laptop at the sound of the bathroom door opening.

"Holy Wow," he breathed. "You look amazing." His words caught the attention of the others and they turned as well.

The woman standing before them wasn't the girl that had walked into the bathroom, the girl they knew. This was a woman and a very attractive one at that.

Ariadne blushed at the stunned looks and gapping mouths of her friends. Her eyes shifted to look at Cobb. But he was still looking over a blue print of one of her designs.

"You look good enough to eat, Darling." She rolled her eyes at Eames' comment.

"You look lovely, Ariadne," Arthur said smiling. "Don't you think, Cobb?"

Cobb looked up from his work and looked her up and down. He made a noncommittal noise but the way he looked at her was like he had just realized he had stepped in dog shit. Her heart plummeted.

"Honestly, Cobb, that's the best you can do? How in the world did you ever convince Mal to marry you?" Cobb glared at Arthur.

"You look nice. Better?"

"Well, I think she looks sensational." She smiled at the voice of her favorite professor.

"Hello, Miles." She said turning to look at one of her closest friends.

"Have you thought about your answer?"

"Yes," She sighed and glanced at her watch. "Miles, as much as I would love to stay and chat, I have to get going." She kissed him on the cheek, waved goodbye to the others and, grabbing her coat, walked off into the cool night air.

They watched the door for a second, before Miles spoke.

"You are a fool." It was all he said before he too walked out into the night, a cigarette clutched in his hand. They didn't need to ask who he was speaking to, they already knew.

"Get back to work," Cobb snapped as he turned back to the plans. Eames and Arthur glanced at him. 'Such a fool.'

Ariadne walked into the restaurant, her hands shaking. The maître de smiled and took her coat, before walking her to a table on the veranda overlooking the city.

"Your date has already arrived." Ariadne smiled as Jake stood and tried to kiss her, but she turned her head and his lips brushed her cheek. He glanced at her questioningly as he pulled out her seat.

"You look so beautiful even the stars are jealous." He whispered into her neck as she sat.

He pushed in her seat, took his own across from her and laid his napkin in his lap.

"I took the liberty of ordering for you." She just smiled. Please let him not have ordered anything gross.

The waitress came and poured them a red wine. She sipped the wine and pretended not to see the huge elephant floating above their heads.

The wait for the food was quiet, except for the pleasantries and then the warm fresh bread with butter cream came.

Finally their meals came. And as the waiter lifted off the lid Ariadne tried not to be sick. Just because she had lived in France for college did not mean that she liked snails. She had tried them when she first arrived and vowed to never do that again.

She stared at the shells on her plate.

"Are you alright?"

"Oh, yes. I'm afraid that I filled up too much on the wonderful bread." Her face was staring to hurt from all the smiling. He motioned and the waitress took away their plates. The table fell even quieter than before.

"Ariadne…"

Cobb walked outside.

"You should go after her."

"Why?"

"Because you love her."

"How could I go after her when she has a good man waiting for her that can give her everything she deserves? I'm an old widower with two kids."

"Two kids who love and adore her."

"They'll still see her, Miles."

"Dom, do you know what Yusuf has been doing all afternoon?"

Cobb shook his head.

"He's been looking up Architects to replace Ariadne."

"What?"

"Dom, did you think that once she got married that she'd keep working? She'll be gone, Dom. Her fiancé is planning on moving them to New York after the wedding. And most married women don't work as criminals on the side."

"But she loves to build…"

"Well what other choice does she have?"

Dom stared out into the dark.

"A house by the ocean with two kids who love her as much as she loves them and a man that she put back together with her own two hands and has loved since she laid eyes on him. Well I can bloody well see why she wouldn't ever want to pick that option," Miles groused. Dom remained silent.

"Dom, if you don't go now you'll regret it the rest of your life. If she turns you down, she'll still leave." He turned to look his son-in-law in the eye. "You only have something to gain here, Dom."

Cobb stood and walked away. The Red Rose was only six blocks away and it was a lovely night.

Miles smiled at his retreating form. No, not retreating, advancing. Now it was up to Dom not to fuck this up.

Ariadne watched as the evening drew to a close. Jake stood and took the velvet box from where she had placed it on the table. Slowly he sank down on one knee, his eyes never leaving hers.

"One week ago today, I asked you to marry me. I gave you the time you asked for, but that time is up. And now I ask you again. Ariadne Grace Bishop, will you marry me?" She stood, her heart heavy. She wanted blue. Blue at the end of the aisle waiting for her, blue eyes on their children, blue every morning when she awoke and every night when she fell asleep. But she could never have it. He could never be hers.

She took a deep breath as her heart and mind fought. This was it. She gulped and opened her mouth. It would hurt, but it had to be done.

"Yes." Something in her broke as the words left her mouth. "I'll marry you."

And not ten feet away from her the same thing broke in Dominic Cobb. He turned and walked back into the dark, not wanting to hear the cheers and congratulations from the other customers or see the way the boy smiled at her as he slid his ring onto her finger. But by not looking back he missed the tears in her eyes as the shards of her heart tried to cut their way out of her body, no longer wanting to be in someone so broken.

She watched as the ring glinted in the light of the candles.

This was it and now it was over. Nothing left to be said. Nothing left to be done.

The look of love on his face was out of place, but somewhere she knew she had made the better choice. Not the right one, but the better one.

"We'll get married and then move back the States." All she could do was smile. This man loved her, so why did her heart still feel like a fish hook was in it? Pulling her away to a place where all there was is blue, but when she resisted the hook cut in deeper, the tugging stronger and more urgent. Then it all washed over her and she felt sick.

"I- I'll be right back." She raced to the bathroom. Sliding into one of the stalls, she flicked the lock and sank down against the wall. She loved him, but she loved Cobb more.

No! She thought. It's too late for that. You're engaged and that's that…

Now what?

Cobb walked into the warehouse, his head hung low and rain dripping off of him. It had started to rain on his way back. The rain beating against him like a million teardrops, the cold air freezing his insides, but the pain is what kept him moving. Because if he stopped, it will be all he feels.

"Dom?" Miles' voice calls to him from his spot on a lawn chair next to the rest of the crew. His voice wasn't asking how he was, it was asking one question.

"I was too late." It was all he said as he poured himself a glass of whiskey and vanished into his work area.

The silence followed him and wrapped its hands around the mouths of the team, stopping their voices from uttering words of comfort. He needed the solitude and the quiet; it drowned out the sound of the answer.

"_Yes"_

She stood from her crouch and, checking herself in the mirror, she left the bathroom to face her boyfr- fiancé.

As she walked back to the table, she saw rain pelting down outside. Her thoughts strayed to the night when she and Cobb had stayed late at the warehouse and a thunderstorm had hit. They had found an old gas lamp, some blankets, and a pack of cards. They had sat there for hours, waiting out the storm, snuggled up on the lawn chairs trying to beat each other at any game they could remember as the rain made music on the roof. She smiled a sad longing smile at the memory.

As the table came into view she saw Jake on the phone. Probably telling his mother the news, she thought as she got closer.

Something made her stop. Maybe it was to look at her future husband or just to gather her wits, but she stopped not five feet behind him. She watched him. This was her future. What she would wake up to every morning and fall asleep next to every night. Then his words caught her attention.

"I know, sweetheart, but me getting married won't change anything between us." That piqued her interest. "You know why I'm marrying her, sexy." Okay, no one she knew called their mother 'sexy.' She leaned against one of the stone columns, hidden from view should he turn around.

"I want the position of CEO but the current one won't make me his successor unless I'm married. I know, it's some stupid rule of his." Ariadne's heart sank. "Listen, we can still see each other. No, she's a real plain girl, not too bright either, she'll never know. Trust me. Anyway, I only have to be married to her for a year or two. Alright, I'll see you tonight after I drop her off at her apartment. And wear the red dress." She watched him flip shut the phone and lean back.

Ariadne walked out from behind the column and stood behind him.

"Jake?"

He turned with that damn smile on his stupid face. "Yes, my sweet?"

"Am I really your sweet?"

"Of course! You're funny and kind and-"

"Plain, not too bright, and convenient, right?" she snarled. His eyes went wide, before that smile covered it up.

"Sweetheart, what are you talking about?" He was playing innocent and she lost it.

"I heard you on the phone, you jackass! How long have you been cheating on me? You know what? I don't care!" At this point everyone was staring at them, but Ariadne couldn't bring herself to care.

"Ariadne, honey, let's talk about this." He raised his hand placating.

"No, sweetheart, there is nothing to talk about!" She turned and began to walk away, before something made her stop and face him.

"Actually I do have something to say to you." Her voice was low and dangerous as she slid the ring off finger. Clutching it in her had she hurled it off the veranda and into the dark rainy street. "Fetch."

And with that she ran out of the restaurant. The rain beat down on her and sliced against her skin, chilling her to the core.

He was a cheater! A stupid, cheating, lying, slimy little piece of shit!

She didn't go home. She didn't want to see the pictures of the two of them together, of his lying face next to hers, smiling, knowing that she hadn't figured it out, that she was just as dumb as he thought.

But where? She couldn't go to any of the team members' places because, not only she did she not know where they lived, she didn't want to face them. The same problem with everyone else, she couldn't face them. What if they had known? What if they were laughing at her as well?

The warehouse. That was where she would go. No one would be there this time of night. She could drown herself in work and any leftover alcohol. And hopefully there would be a lot of both.

As she trudged down the water logged streets, through mud and muck, she thought about what she would do next.

Another boyfriend? Nah. She wasn't really interested in starting all over. She would just continue to work as usual and just buy extra batteries.

She opened the door to the warehouse and froze. What the hell were they still doing here? She felt the remaining pieces of her heart sink as the men sitting around the table turned to look at her. At least Cobb wasn't here… Oh, never mind, here he comes out of the back room.

Miles stood up.

"Ariadne? What are you doing back so soon? Where's Jake?" She hung her head. She would not cry. She wouldn't. She- Shit. The tears poured down her cheeks in waves. Her hair protected her from the eyes of her friends, but not the pain. Not the stabbing throbbing in her chest where her heart should have been. Not the ache in the very center of her being. And not the ears of her friends as an anguished wail tore from her throat as she bolted.

"Ariadne?" Miles called after her as she barricaded herself in the sleeping room. The lock slid shut as she fell to the floor in a sobbing heap. He didn't deserve her tears. But the time she wasted did. What she had felt for him did. And the agony that radiated through her did.

"Ariadne, what's wrong? What happened?" She heard Miles through the door, but she didn't answer. Now was a time for her…. and the bottle of whisky under her work bench.

Dom stared at where Ariadne was standing with her hair covering her face, looking at the floor. What was she doing back? Wasn't she supposed to be off with her fiancé? Oh, he wasn't nearly drunk enough to say that word without vomiting. Miles asked her something, but all Dom heard was the pained sob as she ran into the sleep room, shutting and locking the door behind her.

He looked at the men at the table, before they scrambled for the door, worry etched on their faces.

Miles tried to coax her out. No dice.

Arthur tried to talk sense into her. Eames laughed his ass off, but the door remained shut.

Eames tried to sweet talk her into opening the door. It didn't work.

Yusuf tried chocolate. And when that didn't work, they really got worried.

"What happened? She was happy before leaving." Miles pondered out loud.

"Maybe he turned out to be gay?" Eames piped in causing him to receive several eat-shit-and-die looks.

"Not helping, Eames!" Arthur snapped.

"Cobb, you went to the restaurant, did anything seem strange when you were there?"

Cobb's jaw tightened at the memory.

"No, she agreed to marry him and seemed happy." His voice dripped honey-coated venom. Miles sighed. He had never much cared for Jake, but he hadn't said anything to Ariadne. How would that conversation go? 'Ariadne, I want you to dump your loving boyfriend and date my emotionally damaged, eight years older, ex-son-in-law, who half the country still thinks murdered his wife.

Dom stared at the wall not looking at any of the team members as a hush fell over the warehouse. Even Ariadne's sobs had stopped. Everyone was quiet.

Their Architect was hurt and they didn't know why or how or who or even when. Then the silence went from contemplating to eerie.

"Maybe she killed herself." The resounding smack was heard throughout the warehouse. Arthur rubbed his hand as Eames clutched his head.

"As always your comments are not welcome, Mr. Eames." The voice is icy. And then the silence returns.

She stared at the bottle. She wanted to drink till everything was blurred and fuzzy, no more sharp edges. And while getting blind drunk sounded like a great idea, she just stared at the bottle and sipped the alcohol slowly, enjoying the burn as the alcohol dripped its way down her throat.

There was more banging on the door.

"Ariadne?" It was Dom. She snorted; of course it would be him. The last person she wanted to see.

"I don't want to talk about it," she called out wincing as her voice cracked.

"Neither do I. I just don't want you in there with potentially lethal objects, upset and by yourself."

"What do you care?" There was silence on the other side of the door. Then a set of footsteps carried away the man who was her greatest friend and the one she loved. She drained her glass.

'And now to test the limits of alcohol poisoning.' She thought as she uncapped the bottle and poured more amber liquid into the Styrofoam cup.

Cobb stalked back to the table where the rest of the team was sitting.

"I'm going to stay here, you guys go on home." They looked at him with worried eyes.

"You get anything out of her?" Eames asked slumped in his seat.

"From what I could hear, no." They turned to look at Yusuf. "And don't worry, I took up all sharp and/or dangerous items after she started talking to herself." They reluctantly stood and filed out of the warehouse.

"Miles, would you mind watching the kids for me?"

Miles nodded and walked out. But before he left he paused.

"I can stay with her instead, if it's…" he trailed off, but Cobb knew what he was going to say.

'_if it's too painful to be around the one that got away.'_

"I'll be fine."

Miles sent him a skeptical glance and then walk out in to the awaiting darkness.

Dom stared at the door that hid the girl that had wormed her way into his life and stubbornly stayed there. He also knew that the girl on the other side of the door was hurting and it pissed him off that he didn't have a clue what it was causing her pain.

She left you.

She chose him over you.

The voice in the back of his mind jeered. His heart clenched at the memory. He sighed and looked longingly at the whiskey still in his glass.

'Nope, got to stay sober in case something happens.' He thought, before turning back to the door. It seemed like it was a million miles thick, cutting him off from her, but the sobs coming through that door told him she was only a few feet away. He wasn't sure which was worse.

The morning light that streamed through the window crowbarred its way through Ariadne's eyelids, stabbing at her unprotected eyeballs until she awoke with a grown. She blinked at the offending light, willing it to go back to being night again. Her head was a little buzzy but not bad enough to be a full-fledged hangover. She mentally thanked her family's high alcohol tolerance.

She walked out of the room to face the world outside. Jake may have cheated on her, but that wasn't worth any more than a night of drinking and feeling sorry for herself. She walked towards the sound of voices and coffee.

Cobb sat on one of the lawn chairs as Arthur and Eames tore into Yusuf.

"We are not replacing Ariadne!" Arthur snarled, as Eames loomed over Yusuf threateningly. They had become close to the young Architect over the months and had developed a soft spot for her.

Yusuf backed away from them, hands raised in a placating manner.

"I know she's the best in the business and a close friend, but if she is incapable of doing her job, she puts us all at risk." Yusuf tried to explain to the two seething men.

"I can do my job just fine, Yusuf." They turned. Standing in the doorway with a mug of coffee and a smile on her face was their Architect.

She winced at Yusuf's words, knowing full well that his worries were legit, but she wasn't going to let them down just because her life was in shambles and her heart crushed into tiny pieces.

She sipped the coffee as she walked past them to her work station.

She worked diligently. Placing extra things in that really didn't need to be there and making the mazes so complex she wasn't sure herself if she could find her way out of one.

Arthur stopped working to look over at her. She was acting odd, she was overly cheerful to the point of being scary and if they even tried to broach the subject of what happened last night she would deflect and change the subject.

He glanced at Cobb next. He still refused to tell them anything about what he knew or where he went on his walk, but Arthur had a pretty good idea. What he couldn't figure out was why he was upset, if he had, as Arthur suspected, gone after her why was he so angry? Ariadne wouldn't turn him down…Would she?

Ariadne stared at the pieces of cardboard in her hands but her mind was back 19 hours ago at the restaurant with he-who-she–wants-to-kill-violently. She shook her head. And to think she was about to marry him.

"Ariadne?" Her head jerked up to look at the man brave enough to bother her.

Dom stood, his eyes boring into her like she had a secret that his life depended on. "Can I talk to you outside?"

She nodded and followed him outside.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Not here, there are too many eavesdropping ears about." He led her to his car and opened the door for her. She thought about the type of man that Cobb is and the type of man Jake was. She shook her head. Now that she knew what Jake was, it was an insult to compare them.

He pulled into her favorite little mom and pop coffee house. He opened her door and helped her out.

Their seat was by a large window in the back corner. Their waiter came and went with their drinks, sweet tea for her and lemonade for him. Cobb wrinkled his nose at her as she sipped her tea.

"How can you drink that stuff?"

She laughed at the look on his face. "I was raised in Georgia and there it's almost sacrilege not to drink it, anyway I like it. So, might I add, does Phillipa." Cobb winced at the reminder of his daughter's addiction to the sugary drink.

The waiter returned for their orders.

"I don't know what to get…Why don't you order for me?" He nodded and turned to the waiter. It was too late that she remembered the night before food fiasco and why she didn't let men order, but by then the waiter had walked away with an order she had failed to hear.

"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Cobb laid his napkin in his lap before he leaned forward on his elbows, chin resting on his clasped hands as he studied her face. The waiter returned and placed the food in front of them. Trying to end the awkward silence, Ariadne took a bite of her food.

It was her favorite dish, beef ravioli in white sauce, and this was the only place that made it. She had only mentioned it to Cobb in passing, but he had apparently remembered. She smiled to herself. It was almost like they were on a… best not to think that way. After all, it was only a few hours ago that she ended her engagement, granted she had been engaged less than half an hour, but still.

"What happened last night?" She nearly choked on her food. Of course that was what he wanted to talk about, after all it was only none of his business.

"I really don't want to talk about it." Cobb looked at her before sighing.

"Ariadne, you have the whole team worried sick. You were fine before and not when you came back. So what the hell happened?" His voice was full of worry but it still held that hint of determination.

"I said I don't want to talk about it." Her voice was sharp and clipped letting him know that going down this road was a bad idea. But Cobb was never one to back down.

"Well you're going to talk about it. Most women are ecstatic when they get engaged but you came back in tears and locked yourself in the sleep room!"

"How the hell do you know that I said yes?" Cobb winced as he realized his error. Ariadne was standing her hands planted on the table. "Were you following me?"

"Ariadne, calm down, you're causing a scene." She shook with rage and fear, not only did he invaded her privacy but if he knew that much, what else did he know?

"Why the fucking hell were you following me?" She shrieked in rage.

"I was trying to stop you from getting engaged to him!" Cobb was standing now as well, his face turning red to match Ariadne's.

"Why?" Her voice was level and deadly, her eyes leaving no doubt in Cobb's mind that if looks could kill, he'd be six feet under by now.

"This!" Cobb reached out and tugged her to him, crashing his lips to hers. Her lips were soft and pliant while his were rough and demanding everything she would give him.

Finally he let go of her and she stood there like a deer, and like a startled deer, she ran. She ran as fast and as hard as she could to get out of there. Finally she slumped into a swing at a public park, now deserted because of the late hour. Her mind was whirling. What happened? Why had Cobb kissed her? And why did she want it to happen again?

Ariadne didn't go back to work for the next three days. Yusuf said this proved his point and was then nearly mauled by Eames and Arthur.

Cobb slumped in his chair, listening to Yusuf's cries for help.

It was his fault she wasn't coming back, she was engaged and he had kissed her, spooked her, and now she was gone. He considered helping Yusuf but decided against it, it was nice to see his Pointman and his Forger work together even if it was to kill their Chemist.

Then the familiar sent of vanilla and apples filled his nose and he turned. Standing there wringing her hands was Ariadne.

She didn't know why she was there…scratch that, she knew why she was there. She was there because Cobb was there and that was good enough for her.

"I'm not engaged." Arthur and Eames looked up from where they were sitting on Yusuf at the sound of her voice and turned to face her, without getting up, much to Yusuf's chagrin.

"I heard you. You told him 'yes'." His eyes were haunted by the memory. She sighed.

"I did. But then I found out that he was cheating on me, and was planning to continue to cheat on me even after the wedding." Cobb's jaw tightened at the news and his fists clenched. "So I ended it. Figures that's what I get for going with my second choice." Her eyes brimmed with tears. Arthur and Eames stood and Yusuf breathed in a sigh of relief that their wrath was no longer pointed at him.

"Who was your first choice?" Cobb asked standing up. They were so close they were almost touching.

"You." Her face reddened and she looked at her shoes not knowing what he will make of the confession. His hand slipped under her chin and raised her lips to his. She didn't need any more answer than that.

The team smiled at the sight of their Architect and Extractor together. Yusuf went to tell Miles that he won the bet and Arthur and Eames left to plan Jake's early demise.

Cobb proposed a month later (Miles made another hundred and the rest of the team learned not to bet against him.) and of course Ariadne said yes, much to the joy of both his children and the team.

Arthur, Yusuf and Eames were best men. Eames briefly asked if he could be a bridesmaid instead, but Ariadne told him that a picture of him in a dress was not something she wanted in the wedding album.

And Jake was never heard from again… And when asked, Arthur and Eames denied anything to do with it, both smiling like cats left in an aviary.


End file.
